3 of 4 weekend road deaths involved alcohol, police say

Four people, including a 17-month-old Frederick boy, died in traffic accidents over the weekend, State Police said.

Police said three of the deaths involved the use of alcohol.

About 3:15 p.m. yesterday, Michael Wayne McClanahan, of El Toro, Calif., was struck by a car as he attempted to cross Md. 235 near Millstone Road in California, St. Mary's County, police said.

Police said McClanahan, who had been drinking, was seen standing on the shoulder of the road when he suddenly stepped into the path of a northbound Chevrolet truck driven by James Holt, 47, of Park Hall.

McClanahan died later at a hospital at the Naval Training Station at Patuxent, police said.

Pedestrian error and the use of alcohol contributed to the accident, police said. No charges were placed against Holt.

Early yesterday, Mark W. Holman, 29, of the 1900 block of Pulaski Highway in Elkton, Cecil County, was killed when the driver of a 1986 Pontiac in which he was a passenger ignored a stop sign at the intersection of Philadelphia and Mechanics Valley roads in North East and crashed into an embankment and a house, police said.

Police said Holman died a short time later at Union Memorial Hospital in Elkton.

The driver of the car, Brian Keith Martin Bullock, 21, of North East, was injured and taken to the same hospital for treatment, police said.

Late Friday, a 1988 Nissan Sentra being driven north on Charles Street near Bellona Avenue in Baltimore County left the road and crashed into a Ford truck parked on the right shoulder, police said.

Police said the driver of the car, Carl Edward Matney, 33, of the 3500 block of Branchcourt Road, Parkville, died Saturday at the Shock-Trauma Unit in Baltimore.

Speed, driver error and the use of alcohol contributed to the crash, police said.

Shortly after 5 p.m. Friday, 17-month-old Justin Wayne Powell broke free from the grasp of one of his parents while walking along Urbana Pike south of Ball Road in Frederick and was hit by a southbound van driven by Donna Lee Hutchison, 33, of Monrovia, said a spokesman for the Frederick County Sheriff's Department.

Justin died a short time later at Frederick Memorial Hospital, the spokesman said.

No charges were placed against Hutchison, the spokesman said.

State Police in Pikesville said the fatalities brought to 654 the number of people killed on Maryland roads so far this year, compared with 664 at the same time last year.